Death of baby probed

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 11:28 a.m.

Police are investigating the death of an 8-month-old baby at a home licensed as a family child-care center near Flamingo Road and Mountain Vista Street, Metro Police officials said Wednesday morning.

Aidan Baldwin of Las Vegas was found Tuesday afternoon with an electrical cord around his neck, according to the Clark County coroner's office.

He apparently died of strangulation, although the official cause of death won't be known until an autopsy is complete, police said. The autopsy was scheduled for this morning.

Police said they received a call at 3:11 p.m. from a "hysterical" woman who said Aidan wasn't breathing. Detectives called the coroner to the licensed family child-care home in the 4400 block of Casa Blanca about two hours later.

The death has been referred to Metro's Abuse and Neglect Unit, standard procedure in such cases, said Lt. Jeff Carlson of the unit. He said Aidan was sleeping in a crib in a bedroom out of the sight of the home care operator. Carlson could not say how long the child was unattended.

The crib was next to a door to the bedroom, he said. The electrical cord found wrapped around Aidan's neck ran along the side of the door. The cord still was plugged in, and the light to which it was attached still was hanging on the wall, Carlson said. He said that Aidan was alone in the room, and eight other children were elsewhere in the house. He said that does not exceed the license requirements for a family child-care center.

County spokesman Erik Pappa said the owner has had the family child-care license since 1989, and records indicate no complaints filed against her license in that time.